A Pakistani mountaineering official says the country's military is expected to resume a search for a pair of climbers from Italy and Britain who went missing on a Himalayan peak amid bad weather.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Pakistan's army could not send out search helicopters on Saturday because of heavy snowfall.

He said Pakistani and French climbers will participate in Sunday's search operation to find Italian Daniele Nardi and Briton Tom Ballard, whose mother died on K2 in 1995. The climbers have been missing for almost a week.

In a tweet, Italian ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo also expressed his hope that the search would resume when the weather improves.